YouTube’s new ad policy likely to benefit advertisers, impact creators

Digital marketing experts said YouTube’s revised terms of services will impact advertisers, content creators as well as viewers. Advertisers, for instance, will get the flexibility to choose creators on whose content they would like to place an ad.

“Advertisers can, therefore, micro-target audiences through particular creators. For instance, if an advertiser wants to publish ads on humorous content, they can do so even if the creators are not a part of YPP. With a wider selection of YouTube channels, advertisers can further refine their marketing strategies,” said Kunal Kishore Sinha, co-founder & COO at influencer marketing platform ClanConnect.

However, brands will have to be cautious while running ads on smaller channels. To be sure, YouTube places ads on video content based on viewer demographic (such as internet brands targeting young consumers), viewer interests/affinity (such as food brands targeting cooking enthusiasts) and channel-based ads (brands targeting audiences of particular YouTube channel) .

“Majority of campaigns are run on affinity-based advertising and now that YouTube has opened ads on all kinds of channels, an ad can go anywhere. Brands will be at risk if their ads are run on small channels which are running content that can be sensitive, irrelevant or low-quality uploaded by inexperienced creators. Having said that, since more ad inventory will be available on YouTube, advertising can become cheaper,” said Shradha Agarwal, strategy head and chief operating officer, Grapes Digital, a digital-first agency.

However, small creators are concerned because the revenue generated from the ads placed on their videos will not be shared with them. Moreover, placing ads on their channel may impact their growth as advertising can act as an irritant for viewers who have not yet become loyal followers of that channel.

“Many content creators including artistes and influencers consciously choose not to put ads on their content so their fans and followers can view their content disruption free. However, now they will not have that choice,” said Ambika Sharma, founder & MD at digital marketing agency, Pulp Strategy.

Even for bigger, more popular creators, who are in the YPP programme (which only includes creators who have 4,000 total hours of watch time over the last one year and more than 1,000 subscribers) there could be drop in revenue as YouTube might prefer to exhaust ad inventories on non-partner channel videos and save on commission. Big creators, who get a significant viewership from US, will also be taxed by Google.

With over three lakh subscribers, YouTube content creator Scherezade Shroff, who has been creating online videos for eight years, said that YouTube monetisation pay outs are minimal and often go back into content creation as investment.

“The only creators who will be impacted are the ones who have a large audience in the US and will be paying the tax on their YouTube income. We don’t have many such creators in India. As far as small creators are concerned, their primary concern should be creating great content and money will follow not necessarily through YouTube monetisation but through brand collaborations,” she added.

As far as viewers are concerned, experts believe that the policy update seems like a step by Google to push its premium subscription service.

“More ads on YouTube also mean that if a viewer is looking for an uninterrupted viewing experience they will have to subscribe to YouTube Premium, a subscription service that promises ad-free experience at a price. YouTube has been pushing this service for a while now,” Rikki Aggarwal, co-founder, chief business & operating officer at digital agency, Blink Digital.